The Roscoe Braham Papers contain material documenting Braham's career, including correspondence (some handwritten), office files, research notes, grant proposals and reports, notes and related documentation from meetings and conferences, class notes, and personal records from 1863 to 2011 with some undated material. Also included are black and white photographs and negatives, newspaper articles, pamphlets, bound reports on research projects, glass slides, slides, film reels, annual American Meteorological Society (AMS) Council Meeting correspondence from the 1940s to 2000 and beyond, and articles and reference material dating back to 1863. The records provide insight into Braham's research on cloud precipitation physics, his engagement with other scientists, scholars, and institutions, like the University of Chicago and North Carolina State University, and his involvement with professional organizations.
Roscoe R. Braham Jr. is a pioneering meteorologist, educator, expert in cloud precipitation physics, and visiting professor at North Carolina State University. He earned a bachelor's degree in geology in 1942 from the Ohio University. Braham completed his master's and doctoral degrees at the University of Chicago, joined the University of Chicago staff in 1952 as a research meteorologist and retired in 1991 after thirty-seven years, twenty-six of them as a full professor. Braham has published more than eighty scientific reports, books, and monographs during his academic career. Braham joined the American Meteorological Society in 1945 and served as its president in 1988. He is credited for the discovery of the cell organization of thunderstorms as well as the coalescence-freezing mechanism of precipitation formation in natural clouds.
English, with a few items in other languages, including French, German, Japanese and Spanish
Roscoe R. Braham Jr. is a pioneering meteorologist, educator, noted expert in cloud precipitation physics, and visiting professor at North Carolina State University.
Braham earned a bachelor's degree in geology in 1942, was trained as a pilot in the United States Army Air Corps and served as a weather officer until his discharge in 1946. Braham completed his master's and doctoral degrees at the University of Chicago, joining the University of Chicago staff in 1952 as a research meteorologist and retiring in 1991 after thirty-seven years, twenty-six of them as a full professor.
During his fifty-year career, Braham served as a research meteorologist at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and at the University of Chicago, as professor of physics and founding director of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the University of Arizona, as professor of meteorology at the University of Chicago, and as visiting scientist at North Carolina State University.
As a scholar, Braham helped lead the 1940s Thunderstorm Project--the first large-scale meteorological study undertaken--and co-wrote The Thunderstorm, which is required reading for meteorologists. He is also credited with the discovery of cell organization of thunderstorms and the coalescence-freezing mechanism of precipitation formation in natural clouds.
Braham has published more than eighty scientific reports, books, and monographs during his academic career. Braham received an honorary Doctor of Sciences degree from North Carolina State University at fall commencement on December 20, 2006.
Braham joined the American Meteorological Society in 1945 and served as its president in 1988, helping the society in its quest to improve television weather forecasting.
He received the 1950 Losey Atmospheric Sciences Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for his work on the Thunderstorm Project, a multi-agency research program ordered by Congress to investigate how airplanes could be made safer in thunderstorms.
Braham and his wife, Mary Ann, are life members of the Friends of the Library for North Carolina State University Libraries and established the Edith B. Braham Endowment, which supports the Libraries' meteorology collections in all formats and is named for Braham's mother. Their son, Richard R. Braham, is a professor of forestry and environmental resources at North Carolina State University and chaired the University Library Committee in 1988-1989.
The Roscoe Braham Papers contain material documenting Braham's career, including correspondence (some handwritten), office files, research notes, grant proposals and reports, notes and related documentation from meetings and conferences, class notes, and personal records from 1863 to 2011 with some undated material. Also included are black and white photographs and negatives, newspaper articles, pamphlets, bound reports on research projects, glass slides, slides, film reels, and annual American Meteorological Society (AMS) Council Meeting correspondence from the 1940s to 2000 and beyond, and articles and reference material dating back to 1863. The records provide insight into Braham's research on cloud precipitation physics, his engagement with other scientists, scholars, and institutions, like the University of Chicago and North Carolina State University, and his involvement with professional organizations.
The collection contains 13 series:
The nature of the NC State University Libraries' Special Collections means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The NC State University Libraries claims only physical ownership of most Special Collections materials.
The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.
This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which North Carolina State University assumes no responsibility.
[Identification of item], Roscoe Braham Papers, MC 00397, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC
Gift from Dr. Roscoe Braham, 2010-2017 (Accession nos. 2010.0172, 2012.0161, 2016.0030, 2017.0035, 2017.0089, 2017.0336).
Processed by: Judy Allen Dodson and Jency Williams; machine-readable finding aid created by: Judy Allen Dodson and Jency Williams, December 2013 December; additional processing by Meaghan Lanier, July 2014; machine-readable finding aid updated by Meaghan Lanier, July 2014; updated by Linda Sellars, August 2017; updated by Hanna Howard, February 2019; addition processed and finding aid updated by Shima Hosseininsab, July 2021 & April 2022.
The collection is organized into thirteen principal series:
This collection is open for research; access requires at least 48 hours advance notice. Because of the nature of certain archival formats, including digital and audio-visual materials, access to digital files may require additional advanced notice.
For more information contact us via mail, phone, or our web form.
Mailing address:
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Box 7111
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Phone: (919) 515-2273
[Identification of item], Roscoe Braham Papers, MC 00397, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC
The nature of the NC State University Libraries' Special Collections means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The NC State University Libraries claims only physical ownership of most Special Collections materials.
The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.
This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which North Carolina State University assumes no responsibility.